Anyone who permanently moves to Sardinia, Italy, can receive up to $14,948 toward their home from its government.
Sardinian government officials key-marked nearly $45 million toward this new policy, initiated as an effort to maintain the population of its rural areas. Only homes within municipalities that have fewer than 3,000 people can count for the grant. Recipients only have 18 months from their arrival date to establish permanent residency, thus qualifying them for the grant.
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“Thanks to these contributions to [homebuyers’] first houses, [Sardinia] becomes fertile ground for those who will move there or decide to build a family,” Sardinian President Christian Solinas said in a statement. “We have created the conditions for young people to decide to stay and develop the economic fabric of the most fragile territories.”
Sardinia saw 472,072 arrivals in its ports so far this year, according to a Monday report from Solinas, which is a 3.49% increase from last year. However, it is still under the number of visitors the island saw in pre-pandemic times. The island boasts over 1,000 miles of beach and is Italy’s and the Mediterranean Sea’s largest island, with ruins that date back to 1,500 B.C.
Its capital, Cagliari, has a population of 431,300 people and makes up a fourth of the island’s population, which is 1,639,500. Its next largest city, Sassari, has a population of 222,000, which disqualifies both cities from this new initiative. Still, the island has the lowest population density of all of Italy. Sardinia, with a sheep population double its human population, could become the second least populated European island after Iceland by 2080.
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Italy has a country also faces a similar population problem, with a decrease of 0.15% in 2020 and a median age of over 47. While the country was 10th in largest population in 1950, Italy is now ranked 20th in fastest population decline. A historically low birth rate has resulted in an anticipation that the country’s population will decrease by 10.1% by 2050.
